From King's Officer to Consul
Had he been born a year earlier, a certain Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) would not have been French, since his native isle of Corsica was only annexed by France in 1768. Like all poor but gifted nobles, he attended a military academy, becoming an officer at sixteen. The French Revolution and wars favoured his swift promotion; by age 24 he was a general, and swept from victory to victory in Italy and Egypt. After a bold coup d'état in 1799, aged 30, he was proclaimed consul.

Epic Napoleonic Battles
Napoleon was revered by his soldiers, who not only admired his strategic boldness and vision, but also appreciated common touch of the 'little corporal', as they called him - he stayed close to his troops and spoke to them of liberty, honour, and glory. Wars raged constantly, with all of Europe as their theatre. But the beginning of the end came with the Russian campaign in 1812, when 'General Winter' crushed the 650,000 men of Napoleon's Grand Army. First exiled to the isle of Elba, Napoleon magnificently battled his way back across France, only to be defeated at Waterloo and permanently imprisoned on Saint Helena Island in 1815.

The Grand Empire
In 1810, Napoleon's empire stretched from Brittany to Poland and from Spain to Holland (and even into Sweden insofar as Maréchal Bernadotte was named king there). Alliances and conquests were reinforced by family links - Napoleon offered thrones to his brothers (Holland to Louis, Spain to Joseph, Westphalia to Jérome) and arranged marriages with German princes.
This expansion was accompanied by reorganization in the spheres of administration (central government administered by regional prefects), jurisprudence (the civil code), and religion (Concordat). The spoils of war enriched the large museum at the Louvre being organized by Vivant Denon. The arts celebrated Napoleon's victories through huge canvases painted by the likes of David, Gros, and Girodet.

The Emperor and his Court
Napoleon Bonaparte worked his way from the Directorate to provisional Consul, then to Consul for Life, and finally monarch: in 1804, aged 35, he was crowned Emperor by Pope Pius VII. He was henceforth addressed as 'Sire' and 'Your Majesty', just like kings of yore. He was surrounded by Empress Joséphine, the imperial family (his mother and many brothers and sisters), and a large, lavish court where protocol was based, in minute detail, on the ceremonial that reigned at Versailles prior to the Revolution.

The Move to Versailles
His marriage to Joséphine remaining childless, Napoleon had their marriage annulled and in 1810 he wed the archduchess Marie-Louise, daughter of the Austrian emperor. The wedding ceremonies were extraordinary lavish - as suggested by the carriages built for the occasion (which can still be seen in the Coach Museum). During that period when everything seemed possible, Napoleon envisaged moving to Versailles: he would install himself in the former Queen's Suite, while his empress would reside on the ground floor. The Grand Trianon was refurnished to serve as a pleasant retreat, and the Petit Trianon was allocated to the emperor's pretty young sister, Pauline.

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